Article by Anna Derriks, based on her lecture of the same name at the Sektionstagung der Kultursoziologie, Institute for Cultural Studies Essen.
This article examines materiality and spatial organisation, as well as the technologies and practices employed in the construction of the EU border within and around the people mover at Frankfurt Airport. It thus sheds light on how abstract categories such as clean/unclean, secure/insecure, Schengen/non-Schengen become concrete, albeit visually subtle, socio-material borders.
Originally introduced in the 1990s to connect Terminal 1 with the then newly built Terminal 2, the people over has since been expanded several times. The latest extension is currently under construction and is intended to connect the existing terminals with Terminal 3, which is due to open in 2026.
To ensure the integrity of the border various strategies are employed. The first could be described as an architectural strategy, in which floor plans and sections are organised in such a way that different travellers remain separated from one another on a large scale. This strategy operates at the largest and most static level and encompasses elements such as separate levels, platforms and bridges. The second strategy operates on a smaller and partly mobile scale and is based on materiality. Spatially adjacent areas are separated from one another by elements such as glass walls, gates or signposts. The third strategy operates at the smallest and most mobile level and consists of technological sensors and human practices. For example, when an escape route is opened, a camera is activated which informs the Federal Police and security staff of the fleeing person’s route, leading them to that person. It is only through the interplay of all these strategies that a subtle, yet robust external border can be established.
Within the framework of border sociology, the aim is to strengthen the focus on the role and significance of materiality and spatiality in conjunction with practices and technologies, and thereby to address the question of how the permeability and impermeability of the border are realised simultaneously.
German
16 pages
Soziopolis, July 8, 2026
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